Disclaimer: I do not own anything except for any spelling and grammatical errors

As much as I would love to write the hot and sexy french accent for Fleur… well suffice to say I suck at it and I am being very kind in my description. I apologize in advance but I think we all have the power of imagination to rectify this inherent flaw of mine.

Chapter 2: What is lost must be found

After having dinner with her parents and some light shopping with her mother, she was exhausted. She collapses onto her bed and starts to recall the girl that silently stole her way into Hermione's waking thoughts. Hermione cannot seem to get the girl out of her mind and is screaming at herself for not asking for her name or something, anything to help her find this girl again. Hermione takes a deep breath and slowly releases it.

"Okay, let's think about this logically. How am I going to find this girl again? Well let's see what facts I have already. She is obviously a local as she knows where the shops are and can navigate the streets well. She likes coffee and eclairs. She has soft hands. She smells intoxicating. Her kisses set my cheeks on fire. I can lose myself in her eyes and her smile… wait a moment, when did I start liking girls?", Hermione started to think about all the girls are Hogwarts. She never had this feeling with any of those girls before, including Ginny. A very confused Hermione decide to sleep off frustration.

The next morning Hermione came to a realization. "Maybe I don't like girls. Maybe I just like a girl. Ahhh….Great! I'm going crazy about a girl who I'll probably never see again. This is hopeless! Maybe a chocolate croissant and coffee will jog my memory of something useful she might've said to help me find her", and Hermione is off to the same cafe as the day before.

She pushed the door open and a small bell at the top of the door signalled her arrival. Hermione made her way to the same table by the window and sat down. She let her hands touch the opposite side of the table. The side the mysterious girl had her hands on just only yesterday. The memories came back to her. The wheels in Hermione's head started to turn and a thought hit her. How did the waitress know what to bring for her mystery guest? She must be a regular at the very least.

Hermione waited for the waitress to come so she can inquire more about yesterday's event. It did not take long before she came along to take her order.

"Welcome to Cafe du Delacour! How may I serve you today?"

"I was wondering if you know who the girl I was with yesterday. You see, I have been looking for her but she seemed to have just disappeared"

"You mean Fleur Delacour? Sure, her family owns many businesses here in France, including this cafe. They're a very old and distinguished family and quite well-known across Europe."

Shock was written all over Hermione's face.

"I can see this has come as a shock to you. But if you don't mind my asking, how do you know Fleur? "

Recovering from her shock, Hermione managed a weak reply, "I was lost and bumped into her. She helped me find my way."

"Well, I hope I was able to answer your questions. Would you like to order or do you need a moment?"

"I'll have what Fleur had yesterday, thanks", and with the order, the waitress was gone.

Hermione reached into her bag and pulled out the travellers guide book. If her family was as prominent as the girl described, then it should be quite easy locating Fleur. Hermione flicked through the pages and there it was, an entire page dedicated to explaining the contributions of the family and how they tie into the formation of France in early French history.

There at the bottom of the page is a phone number. Hermione walked up to the waitress and asked if she could use the phone. After dialing the number, she waited nervously for the line to engage.

When a voice came on the other line with rapid french, Hermione froze. When the man on the other end finally stopped speaking, Hermione spoke in slow English. Thank goodness the man understood her and proceeded to tell her that he is the publicist for the Delacour family and any information pertaining to their private information would not be available in any book. Hermione told him that she is looking for Fleur and explained the previous day's events. He patiently listened and asked her where she was. She told him that she is at Cafe du Delacour. He told her to wait for his phone call. He will call the family and get back to her.

Hermione sat back down at her table and looked at the cup of coffee and the eclair. She started sipping the coffee and eating the pastry while waiting for the publicist to call.

Fleur turned into an empty alley and apparated home. When she walked through the door a blonde blur came whizzing down the hallway and collided into her, trapping her with a bear hug.

"Umph… Gabrielle, how are you? Where is maman and papa?"

"They are in the family room discussing about an English tutor for me"

"That is good, don't you want to be able to speak English? You might need it in the future. What if you have a post in the ministry of international affairs? English would be a huge asset", Fleur said while tussling her sister's hair.

"Bah, I have enough studies. I don't want to work in the ministry either", Gabrielle frowned.

"Where were you today? You said you would come back early to play with me", Gabrielle complained.

"The meeting with the flock took longer than expected and then I met someone and we started talking. I lost track of time. I'm sorry Gabrielle, how about we play after dinner?"

"Yay! Okay, you promised!", and young Gabrielle started bouncing up the stairs.

Fleur walked into the family room to greet her parents.

"Bonjour maman, papa"

"Bonjour my little flower, how was your meeting today?", her father, Louis, asked.

"The meeting went well. There were some disputes I had to settle and once that was all sorted out, I left. I ran late because I met a new friend and lost track of time", Fleur replied.

"Fleur darling, that's wonderful. What is the new friend's name?", Fleur's mother, Apolline, asked.

Fleur opened her mouth to answer only to close it. How could she not have asked for her name?

"I, I don't know maman. In my haste I forgot to ask for her name. I know which hotel she's staying in but I don't know which room and it's a really large hotel."

"She's not from around here?", Louis asked.

"Non, she English."

"How long is she staying in France?", Louis continued to question.

"I don't know that either papa. I don't know her name, why she is in France, how long she is staying, or when she is leaving", Fleur said almost on the verge of tears.

Apolline embraces her daughter in a fierce hug and kisses her head. Louis knows that their mother-daughter relationship is unlike the usual ones. When it comes to veelas, mother-daughter relationships are seen as sacred and this was most definitely a sacred veela moment..

"Not to worry darling. We will contact the hotel in the morning and sort this all out but first let us have dinner", Apolline tried to hide how worried she was of her daughter's behaviour. She can count on one hand all the times Fleur has cried as a child. This girl must mean more to Fleur than she even realizes.

The next morning, a puffy eyed Fleur sat down for breakfast with her family. The physical state she was in was cause for worry.

"How did you sleep darling?", Apolline asked.

"It was difficult to sleep. I kept feeling a tugging sensation on my heart",

"My petite flower, we know the hotel and we will find her. We will ring up the hotel, give them her physical description and…..", her father said.

Buzz, buzz, buzz

"Pardon me, I have to take this, it's Philippe. I wonder what he wants?", Louis said as he stood up to to leave the room.

A few minutes later, Louis enters the dining room while finishing his phone call, "Alright Philippe, please send the driver and ask him to make it quick."

A grinning Louis sits down at the dining table to finish his breakfast. He waves the butler over and whispers something to him. The butler nods and vanishes into another part of the house.

"What did Philippe want? You sent for the driver, are you going somewhere?", Apolline asked.

"No, no, darling, I am not going anywhere. I sent the driver for someone else. Don't worry yourself about it. I have taken care of it, Philippe won't be calling again."

The Delacours spent the next little while chatting amongst each other. A slight movement at the door caught Louis' attention and towards the door.

"Ah… my petite flower, can you describe what your lost friend looks like?", Louis asked his daughter.

"She has brown hair, brown, eyes, about this height", Fleur described as she used her hand to indicate the girl's height.

"What do you think darling wife?"

"I think it's pretty accurate a description loving wise husband"

"What are you two going on about?", Fleur asked. Noticing that her parents' are looking behind her, she turned to follow their gaze and was stunned silent. Standing right behind her, next to the butler and Philippe, was the girl from yesterday. Louis dismissed the butler and waved Philippe over to him.

Hermione walked over to Fleur and extended her hand and said, "Hello, my name is Hermione Granger"

Fleur stood up and reached for the hand and pulled Hermione into a hug and kissed each side of her cheeks and said, "I'm Fleur Delacour and it's wonderful to finally see you again".

"Thank you Philippe, I don't know how you found the girl but I'm glad you were able to arrange this reunion. Come let us all leave these two kids alone. Shall we continue this conversation in the study?", Louis gestured towards the doorway.

"Gabrielle, let us go into the library and continue our talk about the possibility of an English tutor?", Apolline was unable to complete this question before the little blonde ran out of the kitchen. Apolline smiled and winked at Fleur and Hermione, and proceeded to follow her husband into the study.

"Um...Do you want to go to my room and talk? We can get to know each other a bit more. Yesterday was lovely but we didn't get to talk about ourselves much", Fleur asked Hermione.

"I would love that very much", Hermione replied rather shyly.

Fleur led Hermione by the hand up to her room. Hermione was amazed at the sheer size of the house. Fleur's room as equally as amazing. It was bright and spacious. Hermione loved how one side of the wall was lined with books. Fleur released her hand so that Hermione was free to explore the room. The first place Hermione ventured towards was the bookcase. She gently ran her fingers along the spine of the books and carefully taking in the feel of the amount of knowledge these books contained. Hermione read some of the titles and noticed that they were primarily science fiction books or story books based on magical worlds and kingdoms.

"Do you enjoy reading these books?", Hermione asked as she took one down and flipped through some of the pages.

"I like to believe that there are other worlds out there besides the one we are in. If we exist in this world, why is it difficult to think that there are other people existing in other worlds?", Fleur replied.

Hermione was amazed at how Fleur's mind works. She had it all, looks and brains. But Hermione was not jealous, far from it. She felt honoured that such a brilliant girl would want to be friends with a dull and boring bookworm.

Fleur can see an internal battle going on in Hermione's mind. She walked behind Hermione and placed both hands on her shoulders and guided her towards the chairs. Once they were seated, Fleur placed her hand over Hermione's and rubbed her knuckles.

"What are you thinking of?", Fleur inquired.

"Oh, nothing. I was just wondering how you have the whole package. You are beautiful and smart", Hermione answered.

"You think I'm beautiful?"

"Oh, I didn't mean, I mean, what I meant to….. Yes, yes, I think you're very beautiful", Hermione managed to stammer out. A very beet red Hermione was now looking down at the table where Fleur was still rubbing circles on her knuckles. A soft hand held her by the chin and lifted her head. Hermione was looking into those beautiful blue eyes again.

"I think you are beautiful too", Fleur whispered.

For a moment, they just stared into each other's eyes. They were having a silent conversation with the eyes. A clearing of the throat caused them both to jump from their chairs and look towards the sound.

"Gabrielle! You should knock before entering a room!", Fleur scolded.

"Maman and papa wants you both downstairs. Something about getting to know your friend and blah, blah, blah"

The loss of physical contact was not lost on Hermione. She felt cold and incomplete without Fleurs hand in hers. Hermione could not explain it, not even to herself why she felt this way. She had just met Fleur yet, this girl has been on the forefront of her conscious, subconscious, and unconscious mind.

"Please let maman and papa know that we will be right down", Fleur requested and Gabrielle can be heard running down the stairs.

"We should probably go, I don't want to keep your parents waiting", Hermione said. Unknowingly, Hermione reached out her and Fleur reached for it automatically. It was as if they had been doing this since the beginning of time. It felt so natural and so right.

"Ah, here are the two little angels, come in, come in, please take a seat", Louis said jovially as the two entered the living room.

"Let me make the introductions, my name is Louis and this is my wife Apolline. You already know my daughter Fleur and this little one is Gabrielle", Louis said while holding Gabrielle.

"Hello everyone, my name is Hermione Granger. Thank you for welcoming me into your home, especially without notice"

"I was given notice. You called Philippe and he in turn called me. It was quite coincidental that while Philippe was explaining your predicament to me that Fleur was also narrating a similar story. I put two and two together and asked him to send the driver to pick you up and bring you here", Louis recounted.

"Sorry for the intrusion though", Hermione said apologetically.

"Don't be silly, no intrusion at all", Apolline said.

Apolline looked down at their intertwined hands and smiled. She will have to talk to Fleur later tonight about her feelings towards Hermione.

"So Hermione, tell us about yourself?", Apolline asked.

"Well, I'm 14 years old but turning 15 soon. I'm from London. I don't have any siblings, it's just been the three of us. My parents are both dentists."

"Where do you go to school?", Mr. Delacour asked.

"I go to a private boarding school in Scotland and so I don't get to spend a lot of time with my parents. This is sort of our thing. Every summer we go somewhere together to sort of reacquaint ourselves."

Fleur sat silently listening to everything Hermione said. She would need to find out when her birthday was, that way she could send a gift.

"Our little Fleur also attends a private boarding school here in France", Louis offered.

The conversation flowed easily amongst the occupants of the house. They shared stories, some funny, and some embarrassing. Fleur did not particularly enjoy her father taking such liberties at disclosing her childhood tricks and pranks. Hermione shared her own embarrassment to make Fleur feel better.

After dinner, the driver drove Hermione back to the hotel along with Fleur to escort her to the front door of the unit.

Fleur was reluctant to let Hermione go. For the first time, Fleur felt at peace with her inner veela. Hermione was not affected by her thrall. She felt like this was something special and she had to fight to keep it.

"Will I see you tomorrow?", Fleur asked quietly. Almost afraid that the sound of her voice would scare any affirmation away.

"Of course Fleur. I plan on spending every day that I am in France with you. I don't leave for another week and a half. We'll have to sort something out for when we are both in school… I mean, if that's what you want…. Or not, I shouldn't just assume that you would… I mean, you ….", Fleur placed a delicate finger over Hermione's lips to stop her rambling.

"I would love to keep in contact with you and I am very honoured that you would spend your vacation with me. I look forward to seeing you again tomorrow. I will come with the driver tomorrow morning. Maybe your parents can come along and meet us all. This way they will know that you are in good hands", Fleur smiled while she completed her statement.

"Ok, that sounds good. I will ask them but for sure I'll see you tomorrow", Hermione leaned over and hugged Fleur. Fleur placed her arms around Hermione's waist and hugged her tight. Both took in the scent of the other and knew at that moment, this was where they wanted to be: in each other's arms.

Fleur pulled back slightly and kissed both of Hermione's cheeks, and bid her goodnight. Hermione watched Fleur turn to leave and with each step Fleur took, Hermione's heart would ache. Fleur for her part felt as though her legs were made of lead. She did not want to look back, she knew that if she did she would never be able to leave.

The next chapter gets a bit angsty but it's important and I will keep it short.